The field of the present invention relates to producing and harvesting meat products for consumption. In particular, it relates to tissue engineered meat for consumption.
Meat products such as beef, pork, lamb, poultry, or fish are desirable products for food consumption. Meat products are currently produced from whole animals, which is a highly inefficient production method because a significant portion of all agriculturally produced grain is used for animal rather than human consumption. In the United States, for example, livestock feed accounts for approximately 70% of all the wheat, corn, and other grain produced. In addition, to produce one pound of beef, thousand of pounds of water are required for the animal to drink and to grow the livestock feed. Meanwhile, throughout the world, by some account, over 800 million people are malnourished and 50,000 people die of starvation every day.
Current meat production methods are also harmful to the environment. Rain forests are depleted at a rate of approximately 500 square feet of rain forest for every pound of beef to be grown. Likewise, modem techniques for fishing marine life have become so efficient that the oceans and lakes are over-fished. Species that were once common are now endangered or extinct.
Current scientific efforts to address these problems have focused on increasing the effectiveness of breeding or growing livestock. For example, growth hormones have been used to make livestock grow faster and thus, consume less grain and water. Growth hormones are typically injected into the livestock, but new methods of introducing the growth hormone have also been developed using genetic engineering technologies such as transgenics or cloning of the whole animal. Current meat production methods, nonetheless, require water, grain, and land to raise livestock.
Another problem with current meat production methods involves food contamination. Every year, on average, each American becomes sick and 9,000 people die from something they have injested. To control food contamination, the government""s present strategy is to inspect meat during processing. The USDA and the FDA, however, rarely regulate the farms where pathogens originate because they lack the regulatory powers over the farms. Nonetheless, except for E. coli 0156:H7, dangerous bacteria are legally considered xe2x80x9cinherentxe2x80x9d to raw meat. Two of the xe2x80x9cinherent bacteria,xe2x80x9d however,xe2x80x94campylobacter and salmonellaxe2x80x94account for 80% of all illnesses and 75% of all deaths from meat and poultry consumption.
In the poultry industry, for example, as much as 25% of broiler chickens and 45% of ground chickens are reportedly allowed to test positive for salmonella. The Center for Disease Control estimates that campylobacter infects 70% to 90% of all chickens. Campylobacter infections cause cramps, bloody diarrhea, and fever. Every year in the United States, campylobacter infection results in about 800 deaths. Infections with campylobacter may also lead to Guillian-Barre syndrome, a disease that requires intensive care for several weeks. The incidence of serious illness and death from these bacteria may increase as more antibiotic-resistant strains develop. This has caused some scientists to question the continued use of antibiotics as a feed supplement for livestock.
Thus, there exists a need to produce meat products for consumption that is more efficient, safer, and healthier than the current methods of production.
The present invention is directed to tissue engineered meat products and methods for producing such meat products. In one embodiment of the invention, the meat product comprises muscle cells that are grown ex vivo. These muscle cells may be grown and attached to a support structure and may be derived from any non-human cells. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the meat product is substantially free from any harmful microbial or parasitic contamination. Another embodiment of the invention is directed to a meat product comprising muscle cells and other cells such as fat cells or cartilage cells, or both, that are grown ex vivo together with the muscle cells. In another embodiment of the invention, the meat product comprises muscle cells that have been exposed to an electric or oscillating current.